NBA Ballers Phenom: Hands-on

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Trick shots, 2-on-2, and custom diamonds.

By Jon Robinson

You're homeless. Yeah, you have a place to sleep, but your purple convertible isn't the most comfortable bed in the world. Not only that, but your one-time partner on the court, Hot Sauce from And-1 fame, just took credit for all the success you've had ballin' and left town with a lucrative contract&#Array;and your girl. Lucky for you, it's NBA Finals week and the NBA is hosting a series of streetball tournaments around Los Angeles. Win the final tournament and you will take home a cool mil and a chance to be drafted into the NBA.

That's the premise behind NBA Ballers Phenom as you create your baller from kicks to head bands, then try to get back at Hot Sauce while beating the likes of King James, Kobe, Shaq, and any other NBA superstar who steps in your way.

And speaking of stepping, your character will be wearing out his shoes as you're able to walk around different sections of L.A. to perform side missions including a Parapa the Rapper-esque freestyle contest, a DDR-like Laker Girl carwash, and even working on the street team for Ludacris. From Hollywood to Venice to Beverly Hills, you'll find yourself dribbling outside the shopping district, even in front of the Chinese Theater. You'll be able to use your basketball in the different environments reminiscent of Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (didn't think I'd ever have to write about that game again), as you can throw the ball off of objects to discover hidden items like diamonds that just happen to be scattered throughout Los Angeles. Find enough of these diamonds and you can get a custom piece built for your baller. Who knew being homeless in L.A. could be so lucrative.

One big change over the original NBA Ballers is the fact that now when you create your character, you can't just max out all of his stats, basically making every character exactly the same once the game is finished. In Phenom, when you initially create your baller, you have to choose a position (guard, forward or center). So if you create a center, you can max out his dunk attributes, but won't be able to get his three-point shooting higher than a 60. You'll also be able to purchase a variety of clothes for your baller, including shoes, shirts, and pants, and if you match all of your gear to make an outfit, you will actually receive a boost in attribute points. And if you think the NBA dress code ends in real life, think again, as the clothes the players are in have definitely changed from the original Ballers. How you can enforce a dress code on polygons is beyond me, but don't expect Allen Iverson to be wearing a bandana and chains in Phenom.

As you progress through the game, you'll be able to talk to a variety of non-playable characters like a barber looking for help in starting up his new shop. Your mission will be to walk around L.A. and find everyone with jacked-up hairdos. Tell them to get a cut and the barber shop will be a success. Thing is, after you help the barber out, you find out that the barber is actually Ben Wallace's dad, and because you went out of your way to help, you can now use Ben as your partner in 2-on-2 games. Big Ben's teammate Chauncey Billups is also featured prominently in the game as a mentor for your character. Billups tries to teach you how to be a baller the right way, through hard work and real b-ball skills. But you don't have to listen as you can instead follow rapper Ludacris as he tries to sell you on being a superstar, from your crib to your ride, if you're rolling with Luda, you're rolling in the big time.